Curls and Ruffles
by haleywa
Summary: Angela and Ben? o Two weddings in one fanfic? Maaaaaaybe. 3
1. Curls and Ruffles

curls and ruffles.

Ugh.

"Ugh, why?" I asked Alice with a frown on my face. She was somehow fashioning my hair into some kind of concoction with braids and curls all over the place.

"Relax. I'm almost done," she assured me.

"Oh. Yay." My voice was thick with sarcasm.

"Okay. Done."

I immediately lifted my hands to my head to get some idea of what my head was going to look like when I turned to the mirror. I closed my eyes and Alice turned me around. I had no desire to open my eyes anytime soon, so I slowly opened my eyes one at a time, and when they were finally both open, I gasped.

"Oh. Wow."

Alice just smiled.

"It's…" I could think of no words to describe what she had done.

"I know. Beautiful , isn't it?" In reply I just nodded enthusiastically. _Beautiful fits,_ I thought.

"But why?" I finally managed to choke out. With everything she had done, I could barely recognize myself.

"You'll see." As soon as I saw her smirk, I could almost feel the look of fear cross my face. "Relax," she said, "It's a good thing." I wasn't so sure though; I sighed and closed my eyes again.

When, I heard her leave the room at a human pace, I knew it was safe to open my eyes, but I was still hesitant. I first opened one eye and looked around. When I saw that I was alone I sighed and blinked a few times, not believing what I saw looking back at me in the mirror. I touched my porcelain features carefully. It was as though I would break into a million pieces if I were to put too much pressure on my own face. It was a completely new experience to me, and if Alice thought I liked how I looked now she might decide to do this more often. I decided that I definitely didn't want it and shook my head.

I was too preoccupied with my own reflection that I didn't even notice Alice walk back in. Her small frame was leaning against the door frame, and she was grinning from ear to ear. When I whipped around, in shock, she started squealing and jumping up and down – a sight that had become familiar to me.

"Oh. I just—"I managed to say before she interrupted me, as expected.

"I knew you'd love it!" She followed with another girlish squeal, "And Eddie will, too."

Of course, she knew. I had no doubt that she would know exactly what he would love. "Right," I laughed.

* * *

I sighed as I looked at the opaque plastic bag Alice had hung in Edward's room for me. Apparently, I was supposed to put it on, but I wasn't so sure. Knowing Alice, it was probably covered in frills and lace.

I slowly walked over to the bag and unzipped the top until I saw the beautiful royal blue. I continued pulling the zipper down all the way and removed the dress from the bag to carefully place it on the bed. At first, I just sat and admired it. It was much simpler than I thought it would be. Alice knew me all too well. As I put it on, I realized exactly how beautiful it was.

There were a few layers of ruffles ending a few inches above my knees, but that was the end of the frills. I would have to remember to thank Alice later, not that she'd ever let me forget. Just then, a knock on the door interrupted my thoughts. Before I could say, "Come in," the door was wide open and I was being interrogated yet again by Alice.

"Don't you love it? I knew you would. Edward will love it, too. I _love_ it. Bella, you're beautiful. Why don't you answer me?" She almost looked hurt, but I burst into a laughing fit and nodded my head.

"Yes," I managed to squeak out between giggles, "I love it."

At first, Alice had a look of confusion on her face that quickly changed into looking at me like I was insane but then a smile slowly crept onto her face and she was giggling along with me.

Finally, I had to stop to breathe, and I collapsed onto the bed. That didn't last for long though; Alice grabbed my hands and helped me up just to rush me into a pair of heels to which I protested.

She sighed, and ran to her room, only to be back again crouching down at my feet a few seconds later. I had no idea how she slipped the delicate silver flats onto my feet without me noticing, but they were much more comfortable than her first choice.

I smiled, and we walked down the stairs. I slipped on the third step and realized that these shoes may not be any safer than the heels if they continued to be so slippery. Soon, though, I realized that it didn't matter much, because Edward lifted me into his arms. I was too preoccupied with his eyes to notice that he was wearing a black tux with flowers to match my new dress. Before I knew it, Alice was handing me a beautiful bouquet of royal blue and bright yellow flowers, and we were out the door.

As soon as I was safely seated in the passenger's side of Edward's Volvo, I asked, "Where are we going?"

All he did was laugh.


	2. Surprise

I would have looked out the window the entire way to figure out where we were going, but with his driving, everything was a blur and after a while of trying to decipher the smudges of color, I was starting to feel sick. So, I spent most of the ride to wherever we were going watching my feet on the floorboard and thinking of all the reasons Alice would have dressed me up like this. I didn't have much time to come up with any plausible guesses though, because we pulled into the parking lot of a familiar Italian??? Restaurant.

Edward grinned at me, "Here we are." I never took my eyes off his as I was lead to the door, however I was paying enough attention to my surroundings to notice that he didn't stop to ask for a table. He just proceeded to the back of the restaurant, knowing exactly where to go.

"Bella!" I recognized the voice immediately.

"Angela!" I practically squealed; it had been a few weeks since I had seen her, but it felt like years.

Ben and Edward laughed and greeted each other as we continued making a fuss over each other.

"Bella, you're beautiful."

"Alice," I sighed and we laughed, "But you are gorgeous."

I had never seen her look so – for lack of a better word – pretty. She was wearing a simple white sundress with a few yellow flowers, but it seemed to bring out the sparkle that I always found in her eyes.

I noticed Edward and Ben were talking in low, rushed tones. Ben looked nervous, and Edward appeared to be consoling him.

"It will all be fine, just follow your plan," Edward whispered so quietly I was surprised I could hear it.

"I know, I know," Ben replied; he had become good friends with Edward lately.

I didn't want to intrude, so I turned my focus back to Angela and took a seat across from her and next to Edward. I managed to scoot my chair closer to his – in what I hoped was a discrete manner – as I sat down. However, I soon realized that I did about a good job at hiding that as Edward did stifling his laugh, which could be heard a few tables away. I could tell by the few question glances we received.

The time between ordering and receiving our food went by quickly. I was thinking about what Ben's plan would be and why it would make him so nervous. Edward must have noticed that I was deep in thought because he turned my way a few seconds later.

"Is something wrong?" He looked concerned.

"No, I'm fine." I smiled. I really was fine. I had nothing to worry about. _This is none of my business._

Just then the food arrived, and it smelled delicious. Edward had politely refused, saying he had eaten before they called, which was probably true. His eyes were a light golden brown, and they were trained on me the entire meal. He seemed to enjoy watching me eat, which made me nearly as nervous as Ben looked.

As soon as Angela finished, she said, "I think I'm going to go to the restroom," and sent me a meaningful glance.

"I'll go with you." I got up in a hurry and followed her across the crowded rooms and through the door labeled _ladies_.

As soon as we knew no one was in there with us, she leaned against a wall, looking distressed.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's Ben."

"Oh, yea. He seems really nervous or something. He was talking to Edward about a plan."

"It's not just tonight, though. He's been acting weird all week. It's just so…" she seemed to be looking for the right word, but finally gave up and ended her sentence with a very frustrated noise.

The door opened and a woman walked in. We waited quietly and pretend to fiddle with assorted items in our bags until she left, and we both let out a sigh.

"What's wrong with him?" She looked as though she could cry.

"It'll all be fine." I repeated the words Edward had said to Ben less than an hour before, as I gathered her up in a hug.

We walked out of the bathroom a few seconds later with content looking smiles plastered on our faces.

"Uhm, Angela," Ben stammered.

"Yea?" she looked up hopefully.

He swallowed and lifted himself from his chair and walked around to her side of the table, while nearly tripping in the process, making her laugh. He began to kneel and both Angela and I's eyes widened. I could see the smile creeping onto Edward's face as I looked back and forth from Ben to Edward and finally to Angela, who had a tear running down her cheek.

He fumbled around in his pocket until he found a small, black box and carefully opened it as if it could shatter at any moment. Inside it was the most beautiful ring I had ever seen, aside from the one on my finger.

The tears were running freely down her face now, and she was nodding, and sniffing, and wiping her eyes all at the same time.

Before he continued he gently swept his thumb across her cheek, which just ended up causing more tears. "Will you —", but she cut him off before he could finish the sentence.

"Yes!" she squealed, "Yes. Yes." She was breathless, but still mouthing the words and nodding her head. She leaned down to kiss him, but he pushed her back and held out his hand for hers. She happily thrust her hand towards him still nodding, and he somehow managed to slide the ring onto her finger with his trembling hands.

By that time, Edward and I were up and walking around the table to where they had both stood up and Ben had gathered Angela in his arms. He looked like he could cry, too.

Angela finally let go and turned to me, squeezing me to where I nearly couldn't breathe, and we both started squealing and giggling girlishly again.

Edward, however, simply shook Ben's hand, and he barely seemed to notice the cold when he wrapped his, still shaking, arms around Edward. We were all laughing by then, and we could barely manage to settle down long enough to sit back in our seats. None of us noticed the waiter set the check on the table, except maybe Edward. Both he and Ben grabbed for the check, but Edward managed to reach it first without looking inhuman in doing so.

"Let me handle this," he smiled and walked up to the counter to pay, leaving me with a very excited couple.

"So?" I looked back and forth at both of their faces. "I would imagine Alice is going to be very busy."

"Oh, I wouldn't make her do that," Angela somehow managed to smile and look concerned at the same time.

"She won't mind at all," I grinned. This must be why she had been so giddy lately. She had been looking through wedding magazines at flowers for days, even after she picked out ours.

Finally, Edward walked back to the table, and said, "Well, goodnight. I suppose I'll give Alice the good news tonight, unless of course you want to."

"No, you can." Angela said, and they both exchanged euphoric glances.


End file.
